Everyone is facing added stress during the coronavirus pandemic, whether it’s economic, medical or psychological. People who work in the travel and tourism sectors are especially hard hit, as travelers stay home while we navigate the new realities. A friend of mine, Colombia travel expert Sam Castañeda Holdren, is using this forced downtime to make positive changes in the ways he does business.
You may have already read my earlier interview with Sam about what it’s like in Colombia during the pandemic. As the owner of OUT in Colombia, an LGBTQ tour operator, he knows as well as anyone about travel in this beautiful South American nation.
Now, he shares his insight about how to strategize for future success during trying times.
What’s your strategy for success in the future?
We’ve just decided to seize the moment. Before the lockdown, we were really busy attending to customers and organizing fam trips and the like. In fact we had just wrapped up a very successful fam trip with 10 travel agents. Fun group. Exhausting, all-consuming work.
We hadn’t really had a chance to adjust our internal processes the way we had been wanting to. Being a boutique shop with just three team members, we just didn’t have the bandwidth. With sales and active tours coming to a complete halt, we put our energy into building some much-needed infrastructure to help make our processes more efficient and improve the overall customer experience. Now that we have our foundation in place, we’re in a much better position to grow and take on more clients while offering the same excellent level of service. We offer a very personalized experience so people can travel just as they are.
Now we’re preparing our marketing and sales strategies so we can hit the ground running as soon as people are ready and able to travel again. And to be honest, I’m already working with some clients to create one-of-a-kind trips later this year and early next year. We’ve put together some amazing new packages with unique and entertaining experiences. They’re designed with the idea that every traveler can feel free to be their authentic self while fostering a sense of solidarity with the local culture.
If there’s a silver lining in the global crisis, it’s that it’s given people time to pause and reflect on how things were and how they could be. I think that conversation is playing out now in so many ways, including the social strife back in the states right now. I mean, do we really want to go back to our old ways in a heavily polluted planet with so much political and social division and inequality? Or can we enjoy the blue skies and crystal-clear creeks and waterways a little while longer? Can we come together and find common ground with people who are different than us? At OUT in Colombia we envision a world where equality is the standard for travel worldwide. We believe that you can travel well, travel OUT, and make a difference at the same time.
I’m looking forward to introducing travelers to the new definition of all-inclusive. Beyond the simple pleasures of a well-planned holiday, when you travel with us, you’ll also have opportunities to learn about and experience the local culture, people, and biodiversity that make Colombia such an incredible place. While our first priority is to create life-changing and entertaining experiences for our LGBT+ travelers, we also consider the well-being of the local community. For every positive experience enjoyed by a gay traveler, we hope to provide significant value for the local community as well. And we hope that every new experience and every cultural exchange leads to more compassion and understanding while uplifting the diverse communities of the world.
Fortunately, Colombia is the type of international destination that people are looking for in a post-pandemic world, which gives us a bit of an advantage. The health crisis has been well managed and the number of cases remain low, which gives travelers a sense of security. Travelers are looking for clean places, and I kid you not, Colombians are among the most germophobic people I’ve met :-). It’s a good thing. I mean, I don’t know anywhere else where I’ve seen people disinfect the sidewalks in front of their house on a regular basis — and that was before the global pandemic.
But not only that, Colombia is a paradise of changing landscapes and diversity. We’re hearing that many people are looking for remote experiences in the mountains and on secluded beaches. Colombia has it all. We offer some very exclusive luxury island experiences near Cartagena on the Caribbean coast. And we also offer upscale nature and cultural experiences and adventures in the mountains around Medellin.
And for those who want to stay in the main cities, they can rest assured that appropriate measures are being taken to protect the health and safety of travelers. In fact, Colombia has become the first country in the world to create a biosecurity certification program for the tourism sector with the backing of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (WTO). Even without the certification, businesses are taking biosecurity very seriously. I mean, just today, I ordered a cocktail to-go from a nearby restaurant – before they handed me the drink the waiter sprayed my hands with antibacterial gel.
When was your last trip, and where was it? What do you miss the most about traveling?
My last in-country trip was at the end of February and beginning of March. I took a bunch of travel agents all over the country, including Cartagena, Barranquilla, Medellin, and Bogota. It was intense, but so much fun! But internationally, my last leisure trip was to Cancun in December. My mom organized our first-ever overseas family vacation. While I generally prefer to avoid huge, crowded resorts, I really enjoyed sharing that experience with my family. There is so much distance between us since we live in different hemispheres – it’s nice to be together when we can.
One of the things I love most about traveling is experiencing new things and connecting with different cultures. I miss tasting new foods and dancing to music that is popular to the local community in a destination.
What will be your next trip?
The Islas del Rosario near Cartagena are calling my name. I could use some sun after being inside so much during the quarantine.
COVER PHOTO: Downtown Medellin. PHOTO: Medellin CVB